1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to semiconductor manufacturing, and more specifically, to the making of logic transistors and NVM cells.
2. Related Art
Non-volatile memories (NVMs) are often on an integrated circuit which also performs other functions. In such cases it is undesirable to sacrifice logic performance in favor of performance of the NVM. Also it is important to avoid or minimize additional cost in achieving high performance for both the logic and the NVM. Replacement gate, which is a technique for enhancing performance by using a dummy gate for the formation of source/drains and then replacing the dummy gate with a higher performance gate such as one with higher conductance and an optimized work function, has shown promise in improving performance. The replacement gate process is particularly helpful in allowing the use of both a metal gate and a high-k dielectric for the gate dielectric.
Accordingly there is a need to provide further improvement in achieving high performance while also addressing cost increase issues in integrated circuits that have both NVM and logic, particularly in the context of replacement gate.